Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Tehms, $i A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ! 



Six Months, $3. f 



NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 22, 1892. 



( VOL. XXXIX.-No. 12- 



( No. 318 Beoadwat, New Yobk. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Familiar Acqiiaintances. 

 The L^ ke Keuka Scandal. 

 Snap Shots. 



The Sportsman Tourist. 



Camel Hunting in the Rockies 

 A Camper's Diary.— iii. 

 Ttie Wind. 



Natural History. 



An Interesting Pet. 

 Minks and Their Ways. 



Game Bag and Gun. 



An Afternoon With the Rail. 

 Big Game and B'g Fish. 

 An Adirondack Deer Drive. 

 Nova Scotia Snipe and Woorl- 



cnck. 

 A Big Dper. 



Notes from the Game Fields. 

 Some Maasachusetts Shots. 

 Chicago and the West. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



The Dolly Varden Trout. 

 Sage Hens and Cut-Throat 



Trout. 

 Dunkiu field by Avoca. 

 Texas Jewflsh. 

 Winnopesaukee Black Bass. 

 Bluetish at Chatham Reach. 

 Iron City Fishing Club's C imp 

 Blueflshing at Orieut Point. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Chicago and the West. 



The Kennel. 



Toronto Dog Show. 

 Central Field Trial Free-for- 

 All. 



Bull-Terriers Again. 

 Mount Holly Dog Show. 

 NatioTial Beagle Club Meeting 

 Irish Setter Club Derby. 

 Western Michigan Show. 

 Kingston Dog Show. 

 Dog Chat. 



Answers to Correspondents. 

 Yachting- 

 New York Y. C. Schooner 



Sweepstakes. 

 Sippican Y. C. 

 Larchmont Cup Race. 

 News Notes. 



Canoeing. 

 A. C. A. Course. 

 English and American Rigs. 



Rifle Range and Gallery. 



Stray Shots from Seaeirt. 

 A Record Group for Hayes. 



Trap Shooting. 



Brewer vs. Morris. 



New Jersey League Shoot. 

 Answers to Queries. 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page v. 



OUR COLUMBUS NUMBER. 



The Forest and Stream of Oct. (the day before the 

 Columbus celebration) will be a special Columbus 

 number. The contents, both text and illustrations, will 

 relate largely to the age of Columbus, and will be as in- 

 teresting as unique. 



FAMILIAR ACQUAINTANCES. 



VIII.— THE CROW. 



Not the robin's impatient yelp not yet attuned to happy 

 song, nor the song sparrow's thrill, nor the bluebird's 

 serene melody, heralds the coming of spring; but attends 

 its vanguard. These blithe musicians accompany the soft 

 air that bares the fields, enpurples the buds and fans the 

 bloom of the first squirrel cups and sets the hyla's shrill 

 chime a-ringing. 



Preceding these, while the fields are yet an unbroken 

 whiteness and the coping of the drifts maintain the fan- 

 tastic grace of their storm-built shapes, before a recog- 

 nized waft of spring is felt or the voice of a freed stream 

 is heard, comes that sable pursuivant, the crow, fighting 

 his way against the fierce north wind, tossed alow and 

 aloft, buffeted to this side and that, yet staggering bravely 

 onward and sounding his trumpet in the face of his rag- 

 ing antagonist, and far in advance of its banners pro- 

 claiming spring. 



It is the first audible promise of the longed-for season, 

 and it heartens us though there be weary days of waiting 

 for its fulfilment, while the bold herald is beset by storm 

 and pinched with hunger as he holds his outpost and 

 gleans his scant rations in the winter-desolated land. 



He finds some friendliness in nature even now. Though 

 her forces assail him with relentless fury, she gives him 

 here the shelter of her evergreen tents, in windless depths 

 of woodland; bares for him there a rood of sward or stub- 

 ble whereon to find some crumb of comfort; leaves for 

 him ungathered apples on the naked boughs, and on the 

 unpruned tangles of vines, wild grapes — ^poor raisins of 

 the frost — the remnants of autumnal feasts of the robins 

 and partridges. 



Thankful now for such meagre fare and eager for the 

 fulness of disgusting repasts, in the bounty of other sea- 

 sons he becomes an epicure whom only the choicest food 

 will satisfy. He has the pick of the fattest grubs, he 

 makes stealthy levies on the earliest robins' nests, and 

 from some lofty lookout or aerial scout watches the 

 farmer plant the corn and awaits its sprouting into the 

 dainty tidbits, a fondness for whose sweetness is his over- 

 mastering weakness. For this he braves the terrible 

 scarecrow and the dread mystery of the cornfield's lined 

 boundary, for this risks life and forfeits the good name 

 that his better deeds might give him. If he would not be 

 tempted from grubs and carrion, what a worthy bird he 

 might be accounted. In what good if humble repute 

 might he live, how lamented die. 



O, Appetite! thou base belly- denned demon, for what 

 sins of birds and men art thou accouutable! 



In the springtide days, i?© turns aside from %9tt fend 



robbery to the softer game of love, whereunto you hear 

 the harsh voice attuned in cluttering notes, and having 

 woed his mate, the pair begin house-building and keeping. 



It is the rudest and clumsiest of all bird architecture 

 that has become the center of their cares, such a jumble 

 of sticks and twigs as chance might pile on its forked 

 foundations, but woe betide the hawk who ventures near, 

 or owl, who dares to sound his hollow trumpet in the 

 sacred precincts. 



At the first alarm signal, as suddenly and mysteriously 

 as Robin Hood's merry men appeared at winding of his 

 horn, the black clansmen rally from every quarter of the 

 greenwood, to assail the intruder and force him to igno- 

 minious retreat. 



When at last the darlings, having clad their uncouth 

 nakedness with full sable raiment, are abroad in the 

 world, they, with unwary foolhardiness and incessant 

 querulous cries of hunger or alarm, are still a constant 

 source of anxiety to parents and kindred. 



But in the late summer when the youngsters have come 

 to months of discretion and the elders are freed from the 

 bondage of their care, a long holiday begins for all the 

 tribe. 



The young corn has long since ceased to tempt them 

 and the persecution of man has abated. The shorn 

 meadows and the close-cropped pastures swarm with 

 grass-hoppers, field and forest offer their abundant 

 fruits. 



Careless and uncared for, what happy lives they lead, 

 sauntering on sagging wing, through the sunshine from 

 chosen field to chosen wood, and at nightfall encamping 

 in the fragrant tents of the pines. 



At last the gray banners of autumn signal departure 

 and the gathered clans file away in struggling columns, 

 flecking the blue sky with pulsating dots of blackness, 

 the green earth with wavering shadows. Sadly we 

 watch the retreat of the sable cohorts whose desertion 

 leaves our northern homes to the desolation of winter. 



THE LAKE KEUKA SCANDAL. 



For the rottenness of a fish protective service con- 

 trolled by politics commend us to the Lake Keuka pro- 

 tector, John Sheridan. By the testimony of citizens of 

 Penn Yan, this man is hopelessly inefiicient and worth- 

 less as a public ofiicer. His business is to enforce the 

 laws for the protection of fish and game, to arrest the 

 netters, to seize and destroy the unlawful nets. This, 

 even when names, times and dates have been supplied to 

 him, he has refused to do. His neglect of duty is no- 

 torious. 



The citizens of Penn Yan and vicinity, those who are 

 concerned to drive the gill-net fishermen out of the lake, 

 and to save the trout from extermination by these un- 

 lawful means, have long ago wearied of trying to do any- 

 thing with this man Sheridan. They have appealed to 

 the Fish Commissioners to remove him and to put into 

 the place some man who will do the work. The appeal 

 has been in vain. Why? Because of "politics." This 

 man Sheridan can control votes. He is retained in the 

 position for political purposes only. And the chances are 

 that for the same base reason he would be retained were 

 he ten times as worthless as he is. 



Sheridan is not specially to be blamed. Most men of 

 his caliber and position and moral training, if given the 

 opportunity, would willingly draw a salary of $500 a year 

 and do nothing under the sun to earn it, save to make 

 the most of their political pull. He is less to blame than 

 his superiors, who, knowing his unfitness and knowing 

 the injury to the public interests his retention is work- 

 ing, keep him in bis place. How much longer can they 

 afford to perpetuate this scandal? 



When it was suggested to Gov. Flower, by a Long 

 Island delegate, last week, that he would help the Dem- 

 ocratic vote by recalling the troops sent to protect the 

 hapless quarantine passengers of the Normannia at Fire 

 Island, the Governor responded with warmth, "I don't 

 care a — for the Democratic vote or any other votes in a 

 case like this. The troops are going down to Babylon, if 

 they come back to-morrow." 



Is it only in the face of life and death peril that our 

 public olHcers can afford to do their plain duty, votes or 

 no votes? Is not the threatened ruin of Lake Keuka's 

 fishing resources a disaster of sufficient magnitude to 

 warrant the discharge of this man Sheridan without 

 thQUgbt of politics? 



SNAP' SHOTS. 

 William King, who peacefully passed from earth last 

 week, at the age of 75, was one of the old school of 

 sportsmen, better known to a past generation than to the 

 shooting men of to-day, but still, in old age, keeping up 

 his interest in the recreations of his youth. Mr. 

 King was a native of England. Coming to this country 

 in his early manhood, he found abundant opportunities 

 to gratify his taste for field shooting; and as a pigeon 

 shot he gained wide celebrity in the years preceding the 

 Civil War. He was a companion of Porter, Herbert 

 ("Frank Forester") and others of the "■Spirit crowd," 

 and was - a frequent contributor to that journal, as in 

 later years to the Forest and Stream. Mr. King was 

 a man of striking physique, sunny disposition and strong 

 friendships. 



The sowing of wild rice is one of the sensible, practical 

 and profitable means of increasing the game supply. A 

 full descriptien of the rice and of the mode of sowing it 

 was given in our issue of Aug. 25. We would be glad to 

 receive reports from those who have had success in wild 

 rice culture. Mr. Charles Gilchrist, of Harwood, Ontario, 

 who has supplied so much of the wild rice grown in 

 years gone by, writes us that the large crop he expected 

 this season has been lost. The Indians had just begun 

 to gather the harvest, when a tremendous shower of 

 wind and rain, which raged for two days and nights, 

 beat off all the rice and tore the beds to pieces. Mr. 

 Gilchrist anticipated sending out ten tons of the rice this 

 year ; manifestly much ground is to be stocked in the 

 future. 



Commenting upon the destruction which threatens 

 New Hampshire forests and the ruin which will surely 

 come to White Mountain interests, the Boston Herald 

 says that there is one man who, if given the opportunity, 

 can make public opinion for the rescue of the woods. 

 That man is Rev. J. B. Harrison, the secretary of the 

 present State Forestry Commission. The suggestion will 

 be seconded most heartily by all who appreciate the 

 forestry situation in New Hampshire and who know of 

 Mr. Harrison's pre-eminent fitness to accomplish the work 

 of reform. 



The excellence of the pictures we have reproduced 

 from our amateur photography collection has been widely 

 commented on, and deservedly so. It should be remem- 

 bered that all amateurs, to whose notice the competition 

 may come, are invited to contribute to the collection. 

 The promise is that in the Forest and Stream's World's 

 Fair exhibit the amateur photographs of the sportsman's 

 life in the field will constitute the most entertaining and 

 noteworthy feature. 



This is a "squirrel year." Reports of the abundance of 

 these animals come to us from widely separated parts of 

 the country. Fluctuations of the supply of different 

 species of game are well marked from year to .year; and 

 we are far from giving for many of them any satisfac- 

 tory explanations. The food supply, the weather in 

 breeding seasons, and other causes are assigned for the 

 plenty or scarcity of certain birds and animals. 



A note from "Stanstead," received too late for inser- 

 tion in the game columns, tells us that flight woodcock 

 are passing through Vermont and affording good sport 

 to the knowing ones. Now that the game seasons are 

 coming on, correspondents are invited to send us short 

 notes of the supply in their localities, and of their for- 

 tune in the field. 



Residents of New York city know less than do out- 

 siders of a cholera scare said to be prevailing here; but 

 one effect of the detention of infected steamships in the 

 Lower Bay quarantine has been to diminish the business 

 of the fishing steamers which make daily excursions to 

 the Fishing Banks. 



When a man who has just come in from camp tells 

 you, "And I'm going back to the same place again next 

 year," you may put it down that he has had a good time. 



The United States Fish Commission is now investigat- 

 ing the practicability of stocking Clark's Fork of tht 

 Coliimbia* 



